Wall Street Gains on Apple; S&P Up for 4th Straight Day

New York: US stocks rose on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 on track for a fourth straight session of gains as Apple and Texas Instruments rallied after their results.

The results lifted the tech-heavy Nasdaq index up more than 1 per cent, while the Dow's gains were limited following disappointing results from Coca-Cola.

The S&P 500 has gained 3.2 per cent over the past four sessions, rebounding after a four-week decline that took the benchmark index down nearly 10 per cent from its intraday record. With the day's gain, the S&P advanced back above its 200-day and 14-day moving averages, a sign that momentum is turning more positive.

Apple Inc rose 2.3 per cent to $102 in heavy trading a day after revenue topped expectations, helped by strong sales of its iPhone line. It also gave a strong outlook for the holiday quarter.

"This was strong across all sectors, and Apple gave a good guidance. Any fund manager who is underweight on Apple is probably rethinking that position today," said Michael Binger, senior portfolio manager at Minneapolis-based Gradient Investments, which owns the stock.

Chipmaker Texas Instruments' shares rose 3 per cent to $45.80 after its revenue beat forecasts, easing concerns about weak industry demand following IBM's results.

On the downside, Dow components Coca-Cola Co and McDonald's Corp both fell following their results, with currency exchange rates a concern for both. Coca-Cola fell 5.5 per cent to $40.89 in its biggest one-day decline since October 2008. McDonald's lost 0.4 per cent to $91.22.

"The earnings season is kind of average so far, and we're starting to see the strong dollar hurt stocks like McDonald's and Coke," Mr Binger said. "The world is a little different because of slowing overseas, but I'd use any pullback as a buying opportunity."

Also lower was Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG.N, down 4.6 per cent at $623, a day after signaling its current pace of growth couldn't last forever.

While earnings have largely come in strong so far this quarter, concerns continue to swirl over the pace of global economic growth. An index of shares in China fell 0.7 per cent after the country's gross domestic product grew 7.3 per cent in the third quarter, the slowest pace since the first quarter of 2009, during the financial crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 57.42 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 16,457.09.

The S&P 500 gained 17.28 points, or 0.91 per cent, to 1,921.29.

The Nasdaq Composite added 47.83 points, or 1.11 per cent, to 4,363.90.

Existing home sales rose 2.4 per cent in September, above expectations, hitting their highest level in a year. The PHLX Housing index rose 1 per cent.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,186 to 621, for a 3.52-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,588 issues rose and 685 fell for a 2.32-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 8 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 20 new highs and 8 new lows.

Copyright @ Thomson Reuters 2014